


Heroes For Ghosts

by 7thweasley



Series: Autumn of 1981 [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling
Genre: During Azkaban, M/M, Sad, Sort of a Songfic, pink floyd - Freeform, post azkaban, starts sad but is sort of resolved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-14
Updated: 2018-07-14
Packaged: 2019-06-10 03:34:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15282696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/7thweasley/pseuds/7thweasley
Summary: Remus is packing to leave the house that he had lived in with Sirius. After his imprisonment, there was just too much that remind Remus of him. As he’s doing so, he comes across one of Sirius’ vinyl records.





	Heroes For Ghosts

Remus couldn’t stand it anymore. Their house. At least they didn’t still live in Grimmauld Place, he thought to himself. It would have been impossible to escape him there.

Their house was bad enough, though, with clothes that smelled like Sirius and pictures on the wall of him. That’s why Remus had to leave. As soon as he packed his things and figured out how to make Kreacher let him into Grimmauld Place to dump Sirius’ boxes, he was gone.

Two weeks ago, Sirius had been arrested for the murder of Peter and the betrayal of James and Lily. Their friends. He was put in Azkaban without trial. Up until now, Remus had been waiting for the joke to be over. For someone to reveal that it was all a dream. The Sirius he had known wasn’t a murderer. His Sirius wore leather and rode a motorcycle, stole Remus’ socks in the morning, listened to awful Muggle British rock, had a shower loofah in the shape of a dog. Remus didn’t know how to rectify what he had known and what was apparently reality, so he decided to run. That’s what he was good at, after all.

To add insult to the injury, Remus had been denied custody of Harry, James and Lily’s son. The court had taken one look at him and slapped a large red stamp onto his form. No one in their right mind would give a child to a gay werewolf, especially not to one still under suspicion for his involvement in the whole Potter-Pettigrew massacre.

Presently, then, Remus was digging through the house. He was deciding what to keep, what to toss. He came across Sirius’ Muggle record collection, and was about to toss it when the 45 on top caught his eye. “Wish You Were Here” by Pink Floyd. Sirius’ favorite. He had played that bloody thing so frequently Remus could have lost his mind.

Remus doesn’t know why he put the record on, but soon enough the scratched vinyl sounded.

 _“So, so you think you can tell / Heaven from Hell / Blue skies from pain / Can you tell a green field / From a cold steel rail / A smile from a veil / Do you think you can tell?”_ David Gilmour asked from the speakers.

Fuck this. What if he had been wrong the entire time? What if this murderous Sirius Black was the real one, and Remus was delusional? So desperate for the affection and happiness that Sirius had given him, could he have overlooked any cruelty in him?

_“And did they get you to trade / Your heroes for ghosts / Hot ashes for trees / Hot air for a cool breeze / Cold comfort for change / And did you exchange / A walk on part in the war / For a leading role in a cage?”_

No, Remus insisted, Sirius had been good. Temperamental and selfish, admittedly, but wholeheartedly good. The war had changed everyone though, Remus included. Secret missions drove a wedge between the couple, with distrust and irritability being their bedfellows. But could Sirius have crossed that line in his desperation? Could he really have joined Voldemort’s forces?

A voice in the back of Remus’ head reminded him of Sirius’ family. With an upbringing like that, it snarled, it’s surprising he didn’t snap earlier.

Remus shook his head, and heard the song picking up its tempo, leading into the chorus.

 _“How I wish / How I wish you were here —“_ Remus magicked the record player off of its desk and at the wall, forcibly silencing Pink Floyd.

It was too much. The song’s meaning combined with Remus’ memories of Sirius standing on their bed, singing into his wand like a microphone. He always begged Remus to come up to dance with him.

“If we were in one of those Muggle movies,” he had said, “this would be the song we would passionately slow dance to.”

Remus wished he had indulged Sirius just once. He had always just laughed him off, taking advantage of their time together. Now, with Sirius rotting in prison and Remus going into hiding, there would be no dancing for the two of them. 

Criminal or not, Remus had regretfully missed his chance with Sirius. 

~THIRTEEN YEARS LATER~

Sirius was sitting in the attic windowsill, looking out on dingy Islington and listening to the Muggle radio. 

Remus came up the stairs behind him after he had gone to the kitchen for some tea.

“Here you are,” Remus said gently as he handing Sirius his steaming cup.

Sirius thanked him quietly, and they sat in silence for a few moments, with only the radio to break the air.

After several minutes, “Wish You Were Here” came on.

Sirius was mindlessly still staring out the window and took no notice. Maybe he had forgotten. Remus certainly hadn’t, though.

Remus stood, and his voice startled Sirius out of his trance. “May I have this dance?”

Sirius eyed his outstretched a hand for a moment, as if his thoughts and memories were buffering. Then, as realization struck him, he cracked a smile which was a rare sight nowadays.

The weary couple danced slowly in the attic as the song played, clutching each other. They were both much thinner and ragged, but Sirius noted that Remus smelled the same. They were going to be alright. As long as Remus smelled faintly of chocolate and wet woolen sweaters, they would be alright.


End file.
